Yoann Barbet has looked to cool talk after his hilarious putdown of Samu Saiz in Brentford's 3-1 win over Leeds, maintaining that he has nothing against small people in general.
The sight of the Frenchman looking over the Leeds forward caused much hilarity in the footballing world, although a minority of people have criticised the defender for his actions.
And Barbet revealed that it was just a spur of the moment decision as he looked to slow the game down with the Bees trying to preserve a two-goal lead.
He told French website 20 minutes: “I wasn’t expecting it to blow up like that. There was nothing mean in what I did. I have nothing against Samu Saiz and small people in general. We got into an exchange a bit before and a few insults were exchanged.
“That’s how I reacted. It might not have been the best way to react, but it just came to me.”
Barbet sought out Saiz after the game to try and shake his hand but the Leeds man was not willing to receive the hand of friendship.
He continued: “I went to see him after the game to try and shake his hand, but he didn’t want to. We’d already done so after we both got a yellow.
“I can understand his reaction. They aren’t in the best place and they lose in the last five minutes. My action perhaps happened at the wrong time.”
Brentford fans have speculated whether the popular centre back, turned left back, will use it as a goal celebration with the term 'Doing the Barbet' circulating on Twitter but the Frenchman “doesn’t want what he did to be badly interpreted”
